Love in a Tea Cup
by just.me.and.i
Summary: AU modern day. Katara and Zuko both live in New York City. Zuko and Katara become friends and he is telling her of his past.


The lights blinked above me and the shadows lurked behind me

YO! Sup? I know I have been gone a long time, but now I am thinking of doing another (non lemon centric) story, and here is a little snippet. Tell me if you want me to continue, k?

-Skull.Fang.

The lights blinked above me and the shadows lurked behind me. They draped across my world, all around me. I could feel the demons lurking in those shadows, deep inside the disturbing depths. Those demons always followed me everywhere, snickering as they caused the people around me to draw away, and be scared of what they did not know. But you can't blame them; it was human instinct after all. The demons mark every man or women, who have ever seen death, or who have ever been backstabbed by the people they cared about; they marked broken beings with tragic pasts. They have marked me practically my whole life. But no matter how many times they taunted me, I kept my head high and went on with my life. Currently, I was waking along a dark, dank street. The narrow road was much to small to house cars, therefore the only sign of life around me was a young Asian boy, sneaking a smoke while sitting on a stack of crates, and a young cat slinking around somewhere behind me. I walked in and out of the small saviors of light, also known as street lamps, as I continued on my way. I always admired how the electricity- powered structures were able to shed small circles of light in even the darkest of dark nights. It would always remind me that even in the darkest times, there was always light, and hope. The air was cold on the hot summer night. I could almost hear the demons taunting me; I could even imagine their long hairy arms dragging behind them. I stopped and looked to my right. _You have reached your destination_ chimed a phony voice in my head. The phrase had been said millions of times in a cheesy car commercial on TV. And sadly enough got stuck inside my memory. A dark alley spanned out on my right, the neighbor brick walls closing in on the figure of a young girl. Unlike the rest of the alley she, in a way, was bright. Illuminating the beat up trash cans and gutters around her. A smile was always on her face, her crystal blue eyes always shined in tune with her emotions. What made her stand out the most was a sort of halo of light around her, it was impossible to see with the naked eye, but I had developed a talent in noticing "worry-free" people. I was always so jealous of them. The light was what I liked to call the "demon-less light" a light where no demons can follow. Whenever I stood close to her and let her light envelope me, the demons would freeze, terrified to go close to the light. Which is how she got to know me so well and become my one friend, she saw past the demons, and saw the real James. Tonight, I had promised to tell her my elusive past. So here I was.

"Zuko! Hi, how are you and jeez, what took you so long, I was beginning to think you had forgotten!" She smiled bigger with every word, her bright outlook showing itself more and more. I began walking in her direction.

"Hey, I'm great. Kind of took me a while since my Uncle made me run an errand." With every step I took, the light grew to accommodate me welcomingly as I sat down next to her on the curb. I instantly felt the relief, warmth, and tranquility the demons stole from me. The feeling brought a harmony unto my soul. Her face snapped into a more serious look, which was very rare for one like her.

"Well, I guess you should start from the beginning" She said in a voice that gave away her immense curiosity as her eyes which did the same. I looked at the dark, messy, dirt-covered wall in front of me silently. My mind began to wander just as it always did when I was about to open up even the smallest bit.

"You were born on November 5, 1990…" she supplied the one bit of information that she knew about me.

"I was born on November 5, 1990 in Greece…" I started before being abruptly cut off.

"You're Greek?" She said excitedly, jumping up and clasping her hands together in front of her chest, her eyes wide with giddy excitement.

"No, my mother was simply there on vacation at the time, and please don't interrupt me, this is hard enough as it is." I sighed exasperated.

"Oh right" she replied. Spinning back down again and making a zipping motion across the width of her lips.

"After I was born, we went back to London where I lived for four years and within a year of my arrival my sister was born." I paused, waiting for a question to pop up.

"You have a sister, that's so cool, what was she like, and your father? She questioned with curiosity glistening in her eyes.

"My father and my sister are alike in many ways, cold, ruthless, and in the end they both went insane." I said as if it was nothing. I gave her a moment to ask a question and surprisingly she didn't, instead she nodded for me to go on.

"You see, to my father business was all that mattered in life, family was simply a distraction that could easily be avoided. When he was still in school, he was one of those kids who only thought of grades and success, who got perfect grades and balked when they got B's. Every one knew those kids were all eventually bound to crack; I guess it just took a little longer for my father to get lost underneath all that weight." I paused giving it time to sink in.

"Then what happened?" she pressed.

"He finally lost it. He killed my mother before running god knows where." My eyes shifted toward her assessing the shocked and baffled look on her face.

"He…he's a murderer?"

"Yes" My answer caused the demons to shift unsteadily in their depths. The negative topics were getting them a bit interested.

"So what happened to you and your sister?" she asked

"Our neighbors had heard the yells and called the police. As soon as they found us they stuck us in an orphanage." Once again I paused as an image sprung into my mind of myself at only five years old holding the hand of the man in charge of the orphanage as we both looked out through the snow to a red- brick covered building.

"After only a couple days my sister went insane from all of the depression, and they had to take her away, it was on the day of her birthday. And after that I never heard of her since." Her eyes were so miserable, I was feeling regret for telling her all this. I gave her a forced smile before saying.

"Don't worry it gets better, after two more years, my long lost uncle discovered me and took me back here, to New York and it became my home. My Uncle's coffee shop sort of like a second one, and him along with my cousin became my new family, and we all lived happily ever after." I couldn't believe I had just ended with such a cheesy line. But it paid off since she giggled quietly at the lame three words.

"And everything falls into place like a completed puzzle." She said looking up at me.

"Now let's go grab some coffee, Aang and Toph are waiting." And my past slowly grew dimmer and dimmer as the present and the future took its place.


End file.
